(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
China's Zhang Shuai stunned 2016 French Open winner Garbine Muguruza to pull off one of the biggest upset of the Qatar Total Open at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex in Doha yesterday.
The 7-6, 3-6, 7-5 win, over the World no. 7 from Spain, took the 28-year-old Chinese, ranked 28 on the WTA ranking computer, to the quarterfinal stage where she is joined by Puerto Rican Olympic champion Monica Puig and third seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.
'I'm still figuring out, honestly. I think Zhang played very well, Muguruza said after the loss.
'Honestly, the conditions were difficult. We were in a court where there was another court next to us. There was a lot of wind. She was finding her shots. I just said I was going to fight. At the end I think was, like, two points difference, honestly, and they went to her side, added the Spaniard.
Yesterday it was busy day on the Doha courts with players having to play two matches in a day to clear the back log of the last two days.
With just two main draw matches getting over in the last two days, it was catch up time, 13 matches were completed yesterday.
However, a number of matches were suspended late in the evening on account of rain and action is likely to begin late in the night with the organiser's working overtime to make the courts ready for play.
Muguruza became a victim of the packed schedule.
The 23-year-old won her first match against Turkey's Cagla Buyukakcay 6-3, 6-2 in the morning session, but could not maintain the same level of consistency in the evening session.
Zhang took an early lead of 4- in the first set but the Spaniard bounced back, but lost the first set in the tie breaker, she however bounced back in emphatic fashion to take the second at 6-3, to take the match to the deciding set.
In the third, with Muguruza struggling on her second serve, Zhang broke yet again and consolidated for a 5-2 lead in the decider but the former Grand Slam winner roared back to level at 5-all.
Zhang, making only her third appearance at Doha, was not to be denied and a further break at 6-5 sealed the win and her best showing to date.
The win marked her fifth career top-10 win and first of the season after previously earning wins over Dinara Safina, Petra Kvitova, and two over Simona Halep in 2016.
Up next for Zhang is either No.2 seed Czech Karolina Pliskova or France's Caroline Garcia.
In the other last sixteen clashes, Cibulkova overcame a tough challenge from Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
The World.No.5 overcame a player ranked 20 places below her but not before dropping a set, the Slovakian won 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 to move into the quarter-finals.
Puig, the gold medal winner at the 2016 Rio Games, walked away a winner against Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, as her opponent retired hurt in the decider.
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